I’ve heard various mutterings about Neal Stephenson’s new book from people who get advance copies. One person reckons that Stephenson has jumped the shark with Anathem, but the folks at The Long View have a rather rosier view of it, as least in part because they apparently helped inspire the book.
Anyway, it seems that there will be a launch party for Anathem at the Long View Foundation’s offices in San Francisco on September 9th. Stephenson will be there. I’ll see what I can do (though I believe Kevin and I are away for a long weekend, so I may be a bit tired on the Tuesday).
He’s coming here, to Nicola’s Books, in September as well. The date is not on their website, but I saw a poster about it last time I was in the store.
It will be interesting to see what it’s like. Nicola herself hadn’t read it yet when I was there (though they had a copy) so I’ve not heard a review.
It does not make much sense to say that an author has “jumped the shark.” You should save that particular cliché for discussing serial narratives.
XD – it doesn’t make much sense to criticize someone for mis-using terminology when all they are doing is quoting someone else.
Having said that, while the origin of the term is a TV series, I think it is fairly obvious what the comment means when applied to a writer’s career. If we were talking about an author who does something radically different with each book then you’d have a point, but Stephenson writes a certain type of book, and has a regular audience. It remains to be seen whether Anathem will keep that audience happy, or complain that the author has passed his peak.
Complaints that an author has “passed his peak” on the basis of one novel are arbitrary and unfounded anyway; how can you possibly judge that until more novels have been released?
Even the superlative Stephenson is entitled to write a less-than-perfect novel occasionally.
Paul:
It appears that I have to point out again that I haven’t read the book at all, nor am I judging it. I’m just reporting what someone else said.
But, having said that, it does seem likely that anyone who makes a comment about an author’s work being on the decline had probably read a lot, of not all, of that author’s previous work. Where is what I wrote above does it say otherwise? Nowhere except in your mind.
If you are going to complain about something, could you at least find something real to complain about?